BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A 28-year-old Bellingham man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for trying to entice a minor and having images of child sexual abuse.
Clayton Harker was arrested back in December of 2022, when he went to a Bellingham hotel expecting to sexually assault an 8-year-old girl, according to U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.
The ‘girl’ was an undercover Homeland Security Investigation agent.
“The court finds these cases extremely troubling,” said Judge Richard Jones at Friday’s sentencing hearing. “Fictitious individual or not, you had a clear thought in your mind to act on your desires.”
Law enforcement began investigating Harker while looking into a different Snapchat user, according to records in the case.
In November of 2022, Harker began talking with an undercover agent who claimed to have an 8-year-old niece Harker could molest.
During the sentencing, Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hampton noted that Harker regularly asked for sexually explicit imagery of minors over the internet. Hampton says Harker would even use threats and extortion when necessary.
“Simply put, Harker has cut a swath of destruction across the lives of vulnerable minors whose only mistake was to cross paths with a predator,” said Hampton. “The threat he poses is real. And neutralizing that threat will require incapacitation through lengthy confinement followed by close supervision for the remainder of Harker’s life.”
Harker will now be on 15 years of supervised release following prison and will be forced to register as a sex offender.
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